2025 - BL highs and lows, best book/story of the year

[theSpirea]

Hello WH/BL fans, it's that time of the year again to start what we can probably call now the traditional end-of-the-year thread.

Here's a recap from last year's thread, adding numbers for 2025. I usually update my sheets every week but this year was quite busy and often I had to backtrack, so there's a chance I missed something.

• 2020 - 29
• 2021 - 28
• 2022 - 40 (covid spike)
• 2023 - 31
• 2024 - 28
• 2025 - 26

 

The beginning of 2025 was fairly slow with BL's output but they picked up the pace later in the year. The number of novels looks healthy. What's probably higher is the number of LEs. I haven't checked the numbers of those but it looks like there were close to 30 LEs this year. Usually we get around 20-24. So BL is surely milking it as much as they can and are getting lazier and lazier with both design, quality (multiple posts on various forums of people showing their LEs falling apart), and lack of any extra content. Especially now with so many publishers doing "special editions" where they add tons of art, etc. and the price is lower or similar to what BL is charging. But the more BL produces, the less I buy. It just doesn't feel that special anymore.

 

Now let's look at actual books.

This year was probably my slowest for reading WH books. I still managed to read over 60 books but only a few were Warhammer. Why? Well, the first three novels in 2025 I read were horrible (Leontus, Ushoran, Fulgrim). Poorly written, dull, and so forgettable that I can't recall a single thing from Leontus. After a break I read The Silent King and probably the worst Haley's book I've read to date. Just the whole series was one disappointment after another.

 

So choosing my book of the year is not easy. There are many titles from 2025 that I still want to read and I have high expectations for (Dropsite Massacre and Ashes of the Imperium). I have to go with The Remnant Blade. Far from perfect but I enjoyed it and it's a solid debut. I'll definitely be buying Vincent's next novel.

 

And as always, I'll highlight two short stories that I think even people not into AoS should give a read: Conn Crowhand's Last Oath and This Rough Beast, both by Graham Wilcox. I really hope he gets to write a full novel.

 

Well, it was all in all a pretty bad year in Warhammer for me. Only a few interesting titles, still no word on Crime/Horror/Necromunda, instead we're getting spammed with lazy LEs.

 

How was your year? I'm attaching a list of the novels published in 2025. As I mentioned, I'm not 100% sure about the accuracy this year, so feel free to shout out any corrections.

 

 

 

 

[Roomsky]

It's been a light year on releases, and a light year on me even reading 40k. Things I intend to read, but haven't read yet, are: Hell's Last, Fulgrim, Voidscarred, Tomb World, and Ashes of the Imperium.

I'm only about 2 thirds through Interceptor City, but if it isn't the best of the year, I'll eat my hat. When it comes to career soldiers, Abnett is Mr. Verisimilitude. Great, memorable characters, edge-of-your seat action, and an insane warzone you feel deeply immersed in. It's (for my tastes) a huge improvement over Double Eagle and is exactly the kind of book Abnett should be writing.

Worst I've read is The Silent King, though I also seem to like that book more than most. It's a perfectly fine sequel to Avenging Son and a baffling "finale" to a "series." We've all expressed the desire for documentary books about the creation process, and I'd love something about how this series ended up where it did.

[Lathe Biosas]

Just wondering. 

 

I bought The Light of the Emperor and Other Stories from a Warhammer store earlier this year and really enjoyed it. 

 

It's publishing date is 2025, but I can't find any list that talks about it being released.

 

If I wasn't staring at it right now, I would doubt my own sanity.

[Roomsky]

12 minutes ago, Lathe Biosas said:

Just wondering. 

 

I bought The Light of the Emperor and Other Stories from a Warhammer store earlier this year and really enjoyed it. 

 

It's publishing date is 2025, but I can't find any list that talks about it being released.

 

If I wasn't staring at it right now, I would doubt my own sanity.

The collection released this year, but the stories within are from before 2025.

But feel free to speak to its virtues if you like.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

Huh, a quiet year. Maybe 2026 will see them get closer to the 30 mark.

 

It is odd - and a bit sad - that the Horror & Crime series have just gone on ice. Maybe there is just a lull books for them, maybe gw has abandoned them. The frustration is in the not knowing. 

 

Very quiet year for reading for me. I read 3, maybe 4 books. Very busy year for depression, getting screwed by gov and losing family to cancer. 

[wecanhaveallthree]

I'll drink to that. I'd love to know the metrics on Crime and Horror, because I'm also very disappointed to see the imprints not seeing much love - though I suppose that's rather the point of them, to collect stories over the years that don't fit neatly elsewhere and provide an arena for authors to write in. 

 

I think it's almost impossible not to pick Ashes for 'best book'. It has fat that could be trimmed, but it's such a return to Heresy-era form and, more particularly, function that earns it the top spo for me.